


The Greatest Sacrifice of All

by LesbianKJ



Series: Scarlet Widow fics [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Bittersweet Ending, Canonical Character Death, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 14:18:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18718774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LesbianKJ/pseuds/LesbianKJ
Summary: And really when it came down to it, Nat wouldn't have any other way.





	The Greatest Sacrifice of All

Really when making the decision to die, it wasn’t just about Clint and it wasn’t just about not knowing her past. It was for the vanished, those that turned to dust, those people whose lives ended without a warning. She did it for those who mourned their losses and wonder, why not them? The Survivor’s Guilt that manifested in everybody that got left behind. And as she fights Clint tooth and nail for the one to be sacrificed for this greater good, she wants this to be it, the final thing that she does for this earth. Nat had really come a far way from where she started, from what the Red Room made her to be; she had a family and friends and loved ones that she was willing to die for, so they can live just as long as she did.

As she and Clint dangle in the empty space, she looks into his teary eyes and hears his words, she made her choice definite. Clint didn’t allow her to die, thinking that she was unworthy and she refuses to allow him to die thinking the same as well.

“What about Wanda, huh? When she comes back? What do you want me to tell her? Nat, please, _please_.”

And Nat closes her eyes. They always say that you think of the good you had with someone, those last moments all the bad things disappear but that wasn’t entirely true. These last few years, Natasha had let Wanda down more times that she could count. She allowed Wanda to be captured, tortured, and incarcerated and when Wanda vanished, she wasn’t there. Wanda left this world alone, grieving over her friend, over her inability to stop Thanos from getting the stone.

It was cruel for Clint to even bring her up but he was desperate and she understood this. She understood that making this decision, she can’t make amends with Wanda. There will no longer be the lazy mornings, the kisses, the taste of her skin, the _I love you_ s. All of it gone and yet still, Natasha can’t bring herself to switch places with Clint.

“Let me go.”

The words so soft and gentle, that it causes Clint to cry. The tears hit her face and the last thing she feels is Clint. The first person to show her any type of compassionate, and the last to see her. It almost felt fitting. It also felt unfair. The universe was always against them, forcing them to give and give until nothing was left _to_ give. And she wishes that there was so way to do it differently, a way where they could get the infinity stone and she could see Wanda, where Clint could see his family but there was no other way to do that.

And she slips through Clint’s grasp and her last thoughts are on her family. She may have entered the Red Room as the daughter of Ivan, and was created to be the Black Widow, but she was always Natasha Romanoff, an Avenger, a friend, a sister, a lover and that is all she could ever ask for.

* * *

“Where is she? Natasha?”

Clint closes his eyes and shook his head. He owed to Wanda to look at her but he couldn’t, not without see Nat’s face. His heart cracked at the sound of Wanda’s breathing hitching. He shouldn’t be here, not after what he’s done in the last five years. Not when Nat had fought and planned to bring the vanished back and all he did was take. She should be here pulling Wanda into a hug, kissing her fiercely and promising to never let go. They were supposed to reunite.

This wasn’t supposed to be happening.

“How- what? Clint, please look at me. Tell me.”

Slowly he looks at her direction, at her bruised face and fallen tears. The obvious heartbreak on her face was enough to do him in.

“The only way was if one of us sacrificed the other. I- she chose herself. Refuse to let me be the one.”

Wanda nodded and wiped her eyes. She turned around, surveying the destruction of the Avengers’ Headquarters. There was a lot of people crying and hugging each other, others grieving over their loss against the battle of Thanos and plenty of people crying over Tony.

“Did she get a funeral?”

Clint nodded his throat tight, tears falling.

“It was beautiful, Wanda, only the best for Nat.”

“He took everything: my brother, my friend, _Nat_. I didn’t get to kick his ass like I wanted to.”

Clint laughed in shock, sniffing afterwards. “Hey, you scared him pretty bad didn’t you? Had to blow up half his army.”

Wanda smirked but the spark of mischief wasn’t there. She walked over and pulled him into a tight hug.

“She would’ve been proud, you know? All of them would be.”

And yeah, that was something they could agree on.


End file.
